Thanksgiving, Asian American style
The Buddhist altar. There's a mens and womens side to this. It's for the past generations of your family. Notice the Almond Joy as one of the "offerings." My aunt Kay liked Almond Joy candies, so without fail, my cousin Jon will put one in there. The dope thing is that Jon is a pretty different guy. He'll not care about most anything and everything. But when it comes to something about his late mother, he'll care in his own ways. I remember my mother once asking him, if he wanted to come to the temple for some reason or another. I remember him asking, "does it have anything to do with mom?" My mother answered, "no." He then said, "In that case, no."The Almond Joy sits there as a funny reminder, not just about my aunt, but about Jon. When I see that candy sitting there, that puts a smile on my face and it makes me quickly paint a mental picture of good times past. That's half of her photo on the left.
My cousin Roger lives in San Diego with his wife Sai, they own Baiyook restaurant in the Hillcrest area. Before you think, "a Japanese family owns a Thai place?" No, Sai is Thai, and I hear she cooks there on sunday. These are their two kids, Shina and Iris. They have a lot of energy, and I think they outlasted Musashi.
My dad likes his smoke. His Giant Robot cap looks good to me.
Spicy tuna and Futomaki. California roll came later on. Those three are like the triplets of sushi rolls.
The mixture of the traditional American food, and the Japanese food make for one of the better Thanksgiving meals. Sashimi and sushi beat Turkey any day. One of the best things I heard repeated all day was, "where's the wasabi?"
After a Thanksgiving meal, the gambling begins. Poker chips and everyone sitting around watching sports highlights in between hands. I have no idea why I don't care about cards when everyone else does. My interest in football is social while theirs is quite serious. Most smoke or drink, I do neither. Hate to say it, but when the cards come out, I usually go home.